Home Hadith Hadith 1531
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to me, "Were your people not close to the Pre-Islamic period of ignorance, I
would have demolished the Ka`ba and would have rebuilt it on its original foundations laid by
Abraham (for Quraish had curtailed its building), and I would have built a back door (too)."
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 25, Hadith 71
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I asked the Prophet (ﷺ) whether the round wall (near Ka`ba) was part of the Ka`ba. The Prophet (ﷺ) replied in
the affirmative. I further said, "What is wrong with them, why have they not included it in the building
of the Ka`ba?" He said, "Don't you see that your people (Quraish) ran short of money (so they could
not include it inside the building of Ka`ba)?" I asked, "What about its gate? Why is it so high?" He
replied, "Your people did this so as to admit into it whomever they liked and prevent whomever they
liked. Were your people not close to the Pre-Islamic Period of ignorance (i.e. they have recently
embraced Islam) and were I not afraid that they would dislike it, surely I would have included the
(area of the) wall inside the building of the Ka`ba and I would have lowered its gate to the level of the
ground."
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`Aisha said that the Prophet (ﷺ) said to her, "O Aisha! Were your nation not close to the Pre-Islamic
Period of Ignorance, I would have had the Ka`ba demolished and would have included in it the portion
which had been left, and would have made it at a level with the ground and would have made two
doors for it, one towards the east and the other towards the west, and then by doing this it would have
been built on the foundations laid by Abraham." That was what urged Ibn-Az-Zubair to demolish the
Ka`ba. Jazz said, "I saw Ibn-Az-Zubair when he demolished and rebuilt the Ka`ba and included in it a
portion of Al-Hijr (the unroofed portion of Ka`ba which is at present in the form of a compound
towards the northwest of the Ka`ba). I saw the original foundations of Abraham which were of stones
resembling the humps of camels." So Jarir asked Yazid, "Where was the place of those stones?" Jazz
said, "I will just now show it to you." So Jarir accompanied Yazid and entered Al-Hijr, and Jazz
pointed to a place and said, "Here it is." Jarir said, "It appeared to me about six cubits from Al-Hijr or
so."